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"Loft" fra Ose in Bygland Haakon Michael Harris / Norsk Folkemuseum
Storehouses in Setesdal, including this one, usually do not have galleries on the ground floor. But as was the custom, there is an enclosed gallery on all sides of the upper floor. Both floors were used as summertime guest rooms and bedrooms.
The storehouses: Loft
The loft is a two-story building known as early as the Middle Ages. The name is used boh for the upper story and for the entire building. The lower room used for storing food was called the bu or bur, while the upper rom was a bedroom and guest room where clothing and valubles were also stored.
The quality of carpentry and décor on the loft mark it as the most important building on the farm.
Both stories are built of logs with a gallery, or sval, on one ore more sides of the upper room. The gallery built in front of the lower floor in many storehouses is a relatively lae feature. the same is true of the custom of lifting the entire storehouse up on an understructure of posts, or stabber, to protect its contents against mice and rats.